It’s good to see that our local police force was not running around like chickens with their heads cut off this holiday season.
It’s also nice that after years of having the message that it’s not OK to drink and drive driven into their heads that people are, by and large, not putting their lives and the lives of others at risk by trying to drive themselves home after a night out.
Yes, there are still those people out there who will exercise poor judgment and get behind the wheel after they’ve had too much to drink. It’s a sad reality, but it happens. And it’s something that can’t easily be remedied either. People are going to make poor decisions, and all that can be done once they have made that decision is to reduce the impact those decisions have on other people.
However, simply put, there are not enough resources to ensure those poor decisions affect nobody other than the decision maker.
We do not have the ability to monitor every person who leaves a licensed establishment to ensure they are not too impaired to drive.
Nor is it very likely that alcohol and its effects will ever be eliminated from society.
Instead, it all comes down to personal responsibility and looking out for the other guy.
From what Westlock RCMP Staff Sgt. Bryan Clayton said, it seems Westlock residents have a pretty strong grasp of the concept of personal responsibility.
With only two drivers out of the many drivers RCMP officers encountered during the holiday season being found impaired enough to warrant a 24-hour licence suspension, it stands to reason that area residents do not want to see anyone injured or killed due to their careless actions.
We live in and work in a community where people look out for one another. It’s a hallmark of a strong and safe community that people will do that.
And it’s that desire to watch out for others that makes the RCMP’s job easier, freeing them from having to watch the roads as much, giving them time to investigate other crimes.
So keep up the good work keeping our roads and town safe. We’re all in this together.
